J R Tolkien

J R Tolkien

The J. R. Tolkien is a luxurious gaff-topsail schooner of 42 metres in length.

Relax on the sun deck or experience the adventurous challenges of sailing in the rigging of this two-masted tall ship.

Let the ship's kitchen spoil you at the end of a days sailing, enjoy the prospect of a sumptuous meal in the company of friends. There is also a bar on board.

For weekends and longer cruises J R Tolkien has sleeping facilities in eleven twin or three berth cabins each with its own WC and shower en-suite.

The Story of J R Tolkien

Originally the J R Tolkien was a tug built in East Germany and under the name of Dierkow, she was a technical wonder of her time, a prestige project of the DDR. (East Germany) She had a diesel electric propulsion system and was operating in the harbour of Rostock.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the re-unification of Germany it was very hard to keep her in operation. There reason for this were that the diesel electric propulsion needed two diesel engines to power one electrical drive and the loss of energy actually made her very inefficient. Added to the power problems the supply of one off spare parts was making her running costs further un-economic. She required more staff than similar vessels and was extremely noisy.

Eventually in 1995 she ended up in Rotterdam and the company that owned her went bankrupt. Jaap van der Rest purchased her, ripped the horrible engines out and transformed her into a very elegant two masted topsail schooner.

Jaap has operated her successfully since then mostly in the Baltic and North Sea.
 

J R Tolkien Technical data